How did my writerly activities this year go? Let’s take a look! (Bonus: let’s see just how many links I can cram into one post! Hint: a lot.)
- Two of my short stories were published: Like I Was Waiting in Eclectica, and All Monsters Welcome in Spartan.
- My imaginary Infinite Jest-themed roller derby roster found the perfect home at The Toast.
- alice blue books released my chapbook Dear Rosie AKA Ro-Ho-Zee AKA Rosarita Refried Beans (with the best illustrations ever by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs).
- In May I read at Unchaste Readers in Portland with a stellar lineup, including several of my Wayward Writer pals: Nina Rockwell, Emily Newberry, Moe Bowstern, Dena Rash Guzman, Wendy Chin-Tanner, Margaret Elysia Garcia, Ariel Gore, and hostess extraordinaire Jenny Forrester.
- And in September I read at Lit Fix, which was so much fun and also gave me the treat of listening to and meeting Jim Ruland, Kelli Russell Agodon, and Susan Rich.
- I volunteered at Lit Crawl Seattle, helping out the night of the event and also running their Twitter account. Yes, that was me making jokes about the overlapping “weed” and “food” themed readings and throwing around hashtags like #dyingofawesomeness.
- I went to lots of great readings and events in town, including book launches for local friends Litsa Dremousis, Anne Leigh Parrish, Judith Gille, and Theresa McCormick, and the debut of Waverly Fitzgerald‘s new mystery press Rat City Publishing. Plus, I had the opportunity to stand in front of Roxane Gay and giggle awkwardly on multiple occasions, which will probably never not be a thrill.
- One of those occasions being my first ever AWP Conference in February, where I loitered around the Unchaste Readers table and accepted random whiskey shots from representatives of more than one small press. I also got to convert a few formerly-online-only friends into real-people friends, including lovely magical weirdos Erin Fitzgerald and Sean H. Doyle.
- I got back into the Literary Kitchen for another class with Ariel Gore, which was productive and fun and inspiring as always.
- My ten-year-old daughter and I started writing a book. She’s also doing illustrations and has proven to be a sharp editor. (“Mom, everyone uses Tuna Surprise for a gross school lunch. We should do something different. How about Tofu-Lentil Stew?”)
- I did NaNoWriMo for the third time … and decided it will likely be the last time. Cranking out 50,000 words in a month was a completely invaluable experience the first time I did it, and I have nothing but love for the organization. NaNo taught me how to keep going and I will always be grateful for that. But now I think I’m better off taking more time to write fewer words. On the other hand, I did get a (very rough) draft down of a story I’ve been thinking about for a while. Whether I ever take it any further or not, it feels good to have it out of my brain.
Of course, there was also a bunch of other writing that didn’t result in anything I can link to or point at … yet. And I read a lot and maybe one of these days I will start keeping track of books and stuff but obviously that hasn’t happened yet.
And I’m excited to start 2015 with a literary bang: I’ll be reading on Thursday, Jan. 8th at Hugo House for the next installment of the always-entertaining, free-donut-laden Wage Slaves: Tales from the Grind series. Plus I have some other secret squirrel stuff in the works … so stay tuned! And have a super fantastic new year. You look great. Really.
